Jalil Dabdoub | Clicks, claps, and collapse: political clowns in power

Jamaica stands on the verge of another general election — but, instead of vision, the air is thick with noise. Not the noise of bold ideas or nation-shaping policies, but a clamour filled with viral dances, petty feuds, and TikTok theatrics that insult the intelligence of a people hungry for purpose. It is digital clowning, broadcast from the steps of Parliament to the screens of a weary public.

In this echo chamber of tribalism, substance has been traded for spectacle. Jamaicans are asked, not to choose between vision or credible plans, but between personalities — many of whom offer nothing more than slogans stitched together by PR consultants and filtered through a smartphone lens [gone viral in seconds].

What passes for campaigning would be laughable were it not a national embarrassment — [embarrassing] — a betrayal of a people whose futures are being sold for views and virality. Ministers lip-syncing. Candidates rehearsing dances. All while classrooms rot, hospitals gasp for supplies, babies die, and crime mutates into a Wild West.

Whiskers away from an election, no credible blueprint has been offered by either party. What is the vision for education? For crime and justice? For transforming bureaucracy? For ending extra-judicial killings? What commitments have been made to economic justice? Where are the reforms to dismantle a culture of dependency and handouts?

Instead, we hear the same tired choruses: “more houses,” “scarce benefits”, “handouts to the people” — as if governance is charity and the people are beggars. But Jamaicans are not begging. They are demanding what they are entitled to: a government that builds systems, not dependencies. A state that manages infrastructure, education, and opportunity — not one that hoards essentials and trades them for loyalty.

NOT FAVOUR, BUT FAIRNESS

What the people want is not favour, but fairness. Not crumbs, but the right to build their own. They want independence — not symbolic, but systemic. The kind that comes from empowered livelihoods, functioning institutions, and a government that serves, not controls.

And yet, those seeking to lead behave like clowns in a circus of their own making. Ignoring what’s on display is not leadership — it is performance art, played out in stunts and shameful spectacles.

Mark Golding — agree with him or not — has become a caricature, not through policy critique, but through ridicule. This, too, is tradition. Jamaica does not engage ideas with rigour; it assassinates character with tribal joy. This is not a defence of Golding. It is a defence of democratic maturity. One need not support a man to insist that ideas — not insults — define politics.

We saw it with Edward Seaga — one of our sharpest economic minds, ridiculed and rejected until his legacy was buried beneath noise. This nation, time and again, demonises its finest thinkers when partisanship demands blood.

Today, we are ruled not by governments of vision, but by social media performers in Parliament. They exchange policy for popularity. They trade trending sounds while inflation eats through the working class. They perform, while the people suffer.

Where is the outrage that thousands must beg for medicine or a school desk? Where is the shame that justice is often reserved for the well-connected, while the poor must wait — or perish?

To his credit, Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has delivered a measure of stability. But stability must not be mistaken for transformation. And transformation is what Jamaica desperately needs.

To those now seeking election: this moment is not yours to exploit. It is yours to earn — through vision, sacrifice, and the courage to put country above party and principle above popularity.

You who step forward to lead must understand: this is not a stage or some gig. It is a covenant with the people. A fiduciary duty owed. Public office is not your platform for fame; it is your battlefield for justice. You are not entertainers. You are stewards — and your duty is not to dance, but to rebuild.

SPEAK IN CLARITY

Stop playing while people are perishing. Stop posting while families are breaking. Stop dancing while democracy dies. Stop managing optics while the country lacks leadership and vision. Stop hiding behind hashtags and handlers. Speak to the nation not in clichés, but in clarity. Not in party colours, but in principle.

To the people: Reject every candidate who insults your intelligence. Reject every party that mocks your poverty. Reject the circus. Refuse the clowns. Vote not for slogans, but for solutions. Vote not out of tradition, but out of truth.

How can a young Jamaican dream of prosperity when every ladder to success has been pulled up, every door locked behind nepotism and corruption, and every opportunity sold to the highest bidder?

This is not governance. It is an expensive circus with deadly consequences. And the ticket price is Jamaica’s future.

Jamaica needs not more populism dressed in party colours. It needs a rebellion of reason — an electorate bold enough to reject theatre and demand a nation built on truth.

The private sector must awaken to the fact that no profit is safe in a failing society. Civil society must reclaim its voice. Academia must descend from its towers and enter the fray.

And to those now daring to ask for our vote — let them answer this: not how well they dance, but how deeply they serve. Not how loud their slogans echo, but how clearly their vision endures.

It is time to cancel the show. We must demand substance. Demand seriousness. Demand statesmanship. If you cannot govern with courage, conscience, and truth — then step aside.

Jamaica has no more time to waste on theatrics.

Jalil S. Dabdoub is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com